


a golden moment in time

by green_piggy



Series: eirichel week 2019 [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, just two lesbians chilling after uni classes!! nothing to see here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 17:06:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19361104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_piggy/pseuds/green_piggy
Summary: One afternoon after classes, Eirika indulges in her favourite hobby; drawing. L’Arachel is more than happy to be her inspiration, and to provide some idle conversation.





	a golden moment in time

**Author's Note:**

> written for the prompt 'golden' for day 2! hope y'all enjoy <3

“Ah, no - stay there. Do  _ not  _ move.”

“Like this?” L’Arachel asked, her hand frozen in mid-air, halfway between her side and flipping the bottom of her hair.

“Yes. Perfect!” Eirika flopped down on a bench in front of her, pulling out her sketchpad. “Don’t move. Under  _ any  _ circumstances.”

“...What if I need the bathroom?”

“You don’t.”

L’Arachel huffed out a laugh, more fond than annoyed. “Goodness me, you’re so - bossy, sometimes. I’d never have guessed if I didn’t know you.”

“I - I mean…” Eirika took out her pencils. “Your hair looks perfect in this light. And if you  _ really  _ need to move, you can.”

“You won’t kill me for it?”

“Maybe. I’ll have to see what mood I’m in.”

A quiet chuckle. L’Arachel folded her hands in front of her and gave Eirika her warmest smile. “Do go for it, then. Don’t let me keep you.” Her eyes twitched towards her scalp, attempting to see her hair without actually moving. “How  _ does  _ my hair look, though?”

“It’s… almost golden.”

“Oh.” A soft smile. “That is rather beautiful, then, isn’t it?”

“Mhmm.”

A comfortable silence fell, the one that those close to one another could claim to share. It wasn't a true silence - the scratch of Eirika's pencil against page, tweets and chirps of birds from the trees on the campus - but it was still quaint. Were it not for the increasing ache in her wrist from holding the exact same position, L'Arachel would have found it perfect.

Thankfully, just as she was contemplating telling Eirika that, yes, I love you dearly, but I  _ really  _ need to move, Eirika tapped the head of her pencil against her arm thoughtfully. “Hmm…” She nodded to herself. “You can move.”

With a dramatic huff, L'Arachel shook out her limbs, as though she'd been electrocuted, and flopped down next to her girlfriend. “Oh,  _ thank  _ you! I thought I'd never be free!”

Eirika rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. L'Arachel didn't look at her sketch, despite the curiosity itching at her; Eirika was terribly shy about her drawings even when finished, and allowed no one to look at anything less than what she deemed acceptable.

Instead, L'Arachel linked her hands behind her head and leaned on them with a quiet, wistful sigh. She stared at the horizon, peering at the leaves dyed by the sunset, searching for that hint of golden Eirika had seen in her own hair. They were similar shades, so  _ surely,  _ a speckle of it had to be somewhere in those branches.

“How come you didn't do art as your degree?” she asked. “It's evident that you enjoy it.”

Eirika hummed. Her pencil skirted over the page.

“I do, but… if you do something all the time, no matter how much you love it -  _ especially  _ if you love it - it's easy to burn out and end up loathing it.” Her hand stilled for a second. “I'd hate to end up hating art. I may not be the greatest at it, but…”

“If you enjoy it, skill level hardly matters.” L'Arachel slung one leg over the other. “You've heard my…  _ questionable  _ saxophone skills. And I've yet to be deterred! Unfortunately so, in your case.”

“You're not  _ that  _ terrible.”

“Ah, truly, so very comforting.  _ Thank you,  _ Eirika.”

A small snort. Eirika flashed her a cheeky grin before returning to her page.

“Well,” Eirika said, “I  _ do  _ have headphones for a reason.”

“Hmm. Well, you don't bar me from playing, so I can't complain  _ too  _ much.”

“And you'll only improve the more you play.”

“You… don't think the neighbours mind too much, do they?”

A pause, then: “They have house parties most nights. It'd be a bit hypocritical of them to do so.”

“Humankind is hypocritical in nature, dear Eirika.”

Eirika just hummed, full attention on her page. It wasn’t as if L’Arachel meant any of that, after all; people were truly wonderful creatures.

Some more so than others, perhaps, but she would have been hard-pushed to find someone better than Eirika. Someone more sweet, more amusing, more kind…

She had her flaws, of course. Who didn’t? L’Arachel wasn’t foolish enough to let Eirka’s many positive traits detract from the negative ones, but she saw little point in dwelling on them.

Silence fell. L’Arachel smiled.

Even if L'Arachel hadn't been paying rapt attention to her, it would have been impossible to ignore her ever-increasing frown, the wrinkling of her beautiful eyes as Eirika glared at her page as if it had personally wronged her.

“Is something amiss?”

“It's… it's foolish.”

“So?” L'Arachel raised her eyebrows when Eirika looked at her. “Doesn't stop most people.”

Eirika bit her lip, then let out a quiet sigh. She turned her sketchpad over in her lap, hardcover side up, and clenched her fingers around its edge.

“I can't—” Eirika shook her head. “I can't get every detail of you, no matter how I try. Your eyes - when you smile like that, they're so  _ warm,  _ and I just—” She let out an annoyed noise, dropping her pencil on top of her pad. “I can't  _ get  _ it. I'm just not good enough.”

“Now, don't be ridiculous.” L'Arachel slung an arm over her girlfriend's shoulders. “We've known each other for many years now, and the future holds even more. You've no need to get down every little detail of me  _ now.  _ I'm hardly going to disappear from your life.”

“I know…” Despite her saying that, Eirika's shoulders sagged with visible relief. She rested her head against L'Arachel with a quiet sigh. “I'm just…”

“Hmm?”

“I'm not used to people staying,” came Eirika's small voice. “My parents, my friends… I keep expecting to wake up, one morning, and it’d be as though you never existed.”

“Oh,  _ Eirika.”  _ L’Arachel’s own heart ached.

Shaking her head, Eirika put down her pencil and rested her hands over her chest. Suddenly, she made to get up. “I’m sorry - I didn’t sleep well last night, I’m not myself—”

“Hush, now.” L’Arachel rested her hand over Eirika’s own, lightly enough that she could still push away if she really wanted to. “You needn’t be perfect around me, Eirika. You’ve told me that, haven’t you? All you have to be is yourself.”

“...True.” With that, Eirika sank down again. “Thank you, L’Arachel.”

“Heh. No need for thanks. But you’re very welcome.”

The sunlight caught on Eirika’s fluttering eyelashes. L’Arachel drank in the sight, took in every inch of her wonderful, amazing girlfriend, as they sat there in a content silence.

Eventually, Eirika shifted.

“We should go get dinner soon. Before rush hour traffic.”

“Hmmmm.” L'Arachel twirled strands of Eirika's hair between her fingers. “We can stay like this for a few minutes more, can't we?”

Over the sharp hook of Eirika's nose as she tilted her head back, L'Arachel could see her smile.

“I don't see why not,” she said.

And indeed they sat there, watching the trees tinge gold from the sunset's increasing grasp, caught in a moment that all the noise of the world couldn't have broken.


End file.
